MLB Playoff changes

[JasonEvans]

Oly fan wrote the following in the Braves 2011 thread --

Wild Card

With 26 games to go, the Braves lead the Cardinals by nine games in the loss column and the Giants by 10 games.

Not quite a lock, but getting pretty close to one. The Braves aren't going to catch the Phillies, but the wild card and a first round playoff matchup with the Brewers is looking more and more certain.

Interesting that there aren't any really good races in baseball right now ... oh. there is the Yankees/Sox in the AL East (tied in the loss column), but the loser of that one is almost certainly a wild card lock so the tension is minimal. Next to that is the AL West (the Rangers lead the Angels by 3.5 games). Nothing else is within five games. And with 25-28 games left, five games is a LOT.

I was talking with a friend in the sports industry last night and we got onto the issue of baseball playoff expansion. He commented that there are few really good races this year to captivate fans and the media down the stretch. It is entirely possible that all the playoff matchups will be all but set by the final week of the season.

He said he hoped this would not further push baseball toward the notion of a second wild card team with a 1-game playoff between the wild cards. Can you imagine the insanity of the Braves, with a 10 game lead on the Giants, having to play a one-game playoff with San Fran where San Fran gets to start Lincecum? Or the Yankess, again with a 10 game lead on the Angels, in a one-game playoff facing Jared Weaver for their playoff lives?

Baseball may think that adding one more wild card team would make the races more exciting (Tampa and the LAA are a half game apart, the Cards and Giants are one game), but the unfairness of that one-game playoff is just unbearable. It would also put the wild card winner at a major disadvantage to the team it faces in the first round of the playoffs as the wild card would likely have burned their top starter and would only have that #1 pitcher available for one game of a 5 game series.

I am of the belief that 4 teams in each league in the playoffs is not a broken system. Yes, this year we happen to have a lot of runaway races -- especially in the wild card (which is generally the race that seems the tightest), but we should not let one year make us break an otherwise fully functioning system. Frankly, no amount of tinkering is ever going to get fans of the teams below .500 all that interested in September baseball.

-Jason "just venting..." Evans

[OldPhiKap]

For the love of sports, please no.

If they are going to change anything, I wish they'd go back to 154 games so the playoffs do not interfere with Halloween.

[devildeac]

For the love of sports, please no.

If they are going to change anything, I wish they'd go back to 154 games so the playoffs do not interfere with Halloween.

Or ski season.

[InSpades]

I think the system is fine the way it is. Some years things are going to work out badly (like this one potentially) but that will happen with any system.

At the same time I wouldn't mind a 1-game wild card playoff. Not that I think the Angels or the Giants deserve just as good a shot as the Red Sox/Yankees or Braves but the current system values a divisional championship just about as much as a wild card. There's really no disadvantage to winning the wild card which is why the AL East championship has become meaningless of late. The more you differentiate the wild card from a division championship the more meaningful you potentially make the last month of the season. Yes, I know, home field advantage goes to the top 2 division winners but it's obviously not a big enough incentive. If you don't want to be stuck in a 1-game "winner take all" showdown then win your division.

Any other potential changes I am entirely opposed to. There's just no way to expand the playoffs without going to 8 teams. You can't have 1 team sitting for as much as a week on a bye or anything of that sort. And 8 teams seems like way too many.

[JasonEvans]

There's just no way to expand the playoffs without going to 8 teams. You can't have 1 team sitting for as much as a week on a bye or anything of that sort. And 8 teams seems like way too many.

If you went to 8 games, you would be including 2 teams under .500 in the NL this year. Blech!!

-Jason "keep it the same" Evans

[SoCalDukeFan]

Oly fan wrote the following in the Braves 2011 thread --



I was talking with a friend in the sports industry last night and we got onto the issue of baseball playoff expansion. He commented that there are few really good races this year to captivate fans and the media down the stretch. It is entirely possible that all the playoff matchups will be all but set by the final week of the season.

He said he hoped this would not further push baseball toward the notion of a second wild card team with a 1-game playoff between the wild cards. Can you imagine the insanity of the Braves, with a 10 game lead on the Giants, having to play a one-game playoff with San Fran where San Fran gets to start Lincecum? Or the Yankess, again with a 10 game lead on the Angels, in a one-game playoff facing Jared Weaver for their playoff lives?

Baseball may think that adding one more wild card team would make the races more exciting (Tampa and the LAA are a half game apart, the Cards and Giants are one game), but the unfairness of that one-game playoff is just unbearable. It would also put the wild card winner at a major disadvantage to the team it faces in the first round of the playoffs as the wild card would likely have burned their top starter and would only have that #1 pitcher available for one game of a 5 game series.

I am of the belief that 4 teams in each league in the playoffs is not a broken system. Yes, this year we happen to have a lot of runaway races -- especially in the wild card (which is generally the race that seems the tightest), but we should not let one year make us break an otherwise fully functioning system. Frankly, no amount of tinkering is ever going to get fans of the teams below .500 all that interested in September baseball.

-Jason "just venting..." Evans

They should be trying to figure out how to shorten the season, not lengthen it.
And how to give the teams that played the best all season a better chance of getting to the
World Series.

How about having the Wild Card team and division leader with the worst record play all of their playoff games on the World.

SoCal

[theAlaskanBear]

Well, *knock on wood*, the NL central race isnt quite over. The Cardinals just swept the Brewers, and they play another 3 game series next week at Busch stadium. Yeah, they are 7 and 1/2 back -- but if they can sweep the series at home it makes it a 4 game race depending on how the Brewers play at Houston. Pujols, please continue your 2hr 5rbi a day pace in September

[SoCalDukeFan]

They should be trying to figure out how to shorten the season, not lengthen it.
And how to give the teams that played the best all season a better chance of getting to the
World Series.

How about having the Wild Card team and division leader with the worst record play all of their playoff games on the World.

SoCal

I meant on the road.